The present invention relates generally to a musical sound generator. In particular, the present invention relates to a musical sound generator for generating musical sounds under the force of gravity without intervention by a musician.
One of the benefits of listening to some musical sounds is that it can be calming to the listener both in indoor and outdoor environments and can assist people with getting to sleep. Consequently to have a non-intrusive background noise in an environment can be beneficial to a person occupying that environment such as a health benefit with people suffering from conditions such as autism or tinnitus by providing relief from their symptoms as seen with white noise machines which produce sounds such as a rushing water or bird song. In addition, non-intrusive background noise may also help with masking intrusive background noise such as in a workplace between rooms.
There are a number of known apparatus' which generate random musical sounds over a long time period. One such apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,225,616. This document discloses an apparatus with an adhesive strip which delays a number of beads to fall under gravity from an elevated position onto a number of acoustic bars positioned in an orientation configured to randomly generate a number of different musical notes.
A disadvantage with this apparatus is that the adhesive tape is prone to losing its adhesive qualities by drying on exposure with the air and coming into contact with other particles such as dust. The adhesive tape can also leave a residue on the beads that come into contact with them. Both of these disadvantages make the apparatus disclosed in this document less effective over a reasonably short amount of time and would result in the need to service the apparatus regularly to stay in working operation.
In addition, for this apparatus to continue to generate musical notes over an extended period of time, the apparatus has to be periodically turned upside down so that beads which have fallen down to the bottom of the apparatus are now positioned at the top of the apparatus so that they can once again fall through the apparatus to generate further musical notes.
Another known apparatus for producing sound and visual display is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,447. The apparatus comprises a centrally located auger to transfer beads from a reservoir to an elevated position within the apparatus so that they can fall under gravity through a series of acoustic spokes back to the reservoir to be recycled.
A disadvantage with this apparatus is the lack of efficiency of loading the beads by the auger via excessive contact of the objects with the auger which can lead to unwanted noise and a lack of reliability of the apparatus.
Further, there is no means of control on the apparatus of the speed of the falling beads, and therefore the speed of the musical sounds produced.
It is an object of the invention to provide a musical sound generator for that addresses at least some of the problems of the prior art, such as those discussed above.
Alternatively, it is an object of the invention to at least provide the public with a useful choice.